


Look At My Hands: Religion, Myth, and Apotheosis in Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron

by Ori_Cat



Category: Incarceron Series - Catherine Fisher
Genre: Essays, Meta, Not A Fanfiction, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-16 20:40:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13061751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ori_Cat/pseuds/Ori_Cat





	Look At My Hands: Religion, Myth, and Apotheosis in Catherine Fisher’s Incarceron

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ThornedDream](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThornedDream/gifts).



#### Introduction

Of all the characters in Catherine Fisher’s _Incarceron_ and _Sapphique_ duology, there are none more enigmatic than the eponymous Sapphique. Although we are first introduced to Sapphique as just a man – “There was a man and his name was Sapphique” is the first sentence of Chapter 5 – it quickly becomes clear that his role in the narrative is anything but. By the start of Chapter 7, however, it becomes quite clear that the Prisoners have a net of legends and myths surrounding the figure of Sapphique, and that at least some of them hold him in great reverence. This is not the first time Catherine has created a religion for her characters, and the religion of interest in _Incarceron_ is the Sapphique-cult. Though it is an entirely created religion, the Sapphique-cult draws inspiration from several real-life religions and bodies of myth, as well as larger belief systems and cross-religious concepts. 

One of the first questions we have to ask is whether the Sapphique-cult is an ethnic or a universalizing religion. Ethnic religions tend to be connected to one particular cultural and ethnic group (hence the name) and membership in the religion is mainly passed on through families – there is not a focus on proselytizing. The two typical examples of ethnic religions are Judaism and Hinduism. In contrast, universalizing religions seek to appeal to all people regardless of culture and focus on gaining adherents by conversion. The “big three” universalizing religions in the world today are Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. With this in mind, let us characterize the Sapphique-cult. Because it has spread throughout the Prison and has entered into the Realm, it is evidently not confined to a single cultural group. It has a single central figure. There is a certain amount of proselytizing going on, but since most of that is entirely Gildas, its status as a tenet of the religion is dubious. With these qualities in mind, I would consider the Sapphique-cult to fit the bill of a universalizing religion more closely than it does an ethnic religion. 

#### The Trickster

Sapphique, in the many myths, most frequently plays the role of the culture hero – the one who is “on humanity’s side” against the greater powers of the gods and monsters, or at least the one who sticks a pin in the powers’ omnipotence. The culture hero changes the world through some invention or discovery, which raises the question: what, in the Sapphique myth, is Sapphique’s invention or discovery? For the people of the Prison, he makes two. The most significant, of course, is that he discovers a way Out, that the iron walls that enclose the world are not impenetrable, and that there is a world Outside. And for the Prisoners, he discovers the stars, which are used to symbolize that potential for a way Out. 

Although not all culture heroes are tricksters, the two are often joined together to make a single figure, particularly in First Nations myth. The tale that best illustrates the trickster nature assigned to Sapphique is the tale of the wirewolf, which seems to have been lifted wholesale from the most famous Br’er Rabbit tale. 

> ‘I could breathe fire on you,’ the wirewolf growled.  
>  ‘Do it,’ said Sapphique. ‘Just don’t throw me into the water.’  
>  ‘I could gnaw your shadow away.’  
>  ‘That’s nothing, compared with the black water.’  
>  ‘I could crush your bones and sinews.’  
>  ‘I fear the terrible water more than you.’ The wirewolf flung him angrily into the lake.  
>  So he swam away, laughing. 

“Please, Br’er Fox, don’t throw me in that there briar patch!” The trickster uses their guile more than they use their strength. They use their mind more than their muscles. They know how stories work, and turn that to their advantage. 

Two tricksters I wish to talk about here, the most prominent in Western canon, though they may share the same source. And those are Loki and Prometheus. Sapphique’s association with Loki is easy, coming as it does from the mouths of the Steel Wolves: 

> “Did he Escape? For there is a rumour that is whispered in the dark, a rumour that he remains, trapped deep in the Prison’s heart, his body turned to stone; that the cries we hear are his cries, that his struggles shake the world.  
>  But we know what we know.”

This is a reference to the binding of Loki, in a cave deep underground across three stones with the entrails of his son, and the story holds that when the serpent drips poison on his face, he thrashes with the pain and thus generates earthquakes. A comparison of Sapphique to Loki also flows neatly into the narrative of the dragon and the riddle-game, riddle-contests and flyting contests being staples of Norse myth. Norse myth additionally clothes Loki, two separate times, in Freya’s feathered cloak, which allows him to turn into a bird, and from which can be drawn parallels to Sapphique’s feathered coat. 

Prometheus is trickier (pun not intended). Prometheus was considered one of the wisest of the Titans, and switched to the side of the gods in the Titan-god war. But Prometheus made humans and, caring more for them than for the gods, tricked the gods when it came to how sacrifices should be apportioned between men and gods and stole fire from the sun in order to give to men. Zeus responded by tying him to the Caucasus mountains and sending an eagle to tear out his liver daily. A nuance of this punishment that most books leave out is that Prometheus holds secret knowledge regarding one of Zeus’ children who is prophesied to overthrow their father, and will win his freedom should he divulge, which he never does. In this tale, Prometheus stands on the side of men against the control of the gods, and in the Sapphique tales, so does Sapphique. He functions as men’s representative in the tales, which are a micro version of the macro conflict between Prison and Prisoners. 

The narrative of Prometheus and the eagle (which is named Ethon, incidentally) should also be kept in mind when considering the interactions between Jared and Sia over the book _Sapphique_. Sia has inherited the Havaarna dynasty, whose symbol is an eagle. And she uses her power in _Sapphique_ to gain control over Jared, first by attempting a simultaneous bribe/blackmail treating on his illness and the possibility of a cure in the Esoterica, and, when that doesn’t work, flat-out trying to have him murdered. Sia plays the Ethon to his Prometheus, a pressure saying _turn your knowledge to my side_ or else. But Jared, in true Promethean fashion, never does. 

____

#### The Beast

The tale of the Beast is the best-characterized of all the Sapphique tales, and is one of the ones that has the greatest impact on the plot. It’s the tale the characters have to live in, it’s the tale whence he gets his epithet – Nine-Fingered One – the tale for which there is living (or not, as the case may be) evidence, in that the Beast still exists, still willing to taunt the condemned with the knowledge that Sapphique was there before them. 

Let’s talk about that finger, because that is of significant narrative importance. In fact, the narrative obsesses over it. There is that epithet – Nine-Fingered One. There is the ritual of the Citadel’s people, complete with icons and a chant. Finn is shown the very bone by Incarceron. There is a thorough story by Gildas explaining the tale of how Sapphique lost it. Rix’s magic act hinges on feigning such an amputation to blur, in his audience’s minds, the distinction between his stage persona and Sapphique. Attia gets her dream in _Sapphique_ , and the finger is mentioned as the most distinguishing feature of Sapphique. The Glove has bloodstains around the first knuckle. Jared gets his dream and notes it too: “A smooth scar seamed [Sapphique’s] knuckle.” Over and over, the motif is repeated. As symbols of divinity go, though, it’s a little bizarre. We – humans, that is – tend to lean towards symbolizing with things that are pretty, or things that are noble. We do not symbolize with things that are lost, things that indicate failures – yet such is the motif of the severed finger. It is violent and bloody and visceral and not at all glorious or noble. What kind of faith would characterize their central figure by his wounds? 

...Oh. Right. 

It’s hard to tell any kind of story without Christianity creeping in somewhere – a testament to how universal it has become. And the Beast tale is the most clearly Christian one – it is that katabasis, that sacrifice, descent, and return. It is the tale that the Citadel inhabitants recreate at their yearly celebration, with parades and icons and revelry. Heck, they even have their chant – _his fingerbone the key, his blood the oil that smoothes the lock_ – that evokes both the Kyrie of Good Friday and the Exsultet of Easter Vigil. 

But. 

If the Beast tale is _Incarceron_ ’s crucifixion tale, then it is a dark type of inversion. Crucial in Christian theology is the idea that the crucifixion was the final sacrifice, the once-for-all payment of debt to God. That only Christ’s sacrifice would be good enough to make restitution for man’s Original Sin, and that, sacrifice made, the debt is paid eternally, both backwards and forwards in time, and all men are freed for everlasting life. _Born that man no more may die_ , we sing at Christmas. 

But Sapphique’s katabasis changes no pattern. It pays no debt. It saves no-one. As per Gildas’ story, Sapphique returns on the fourth day only to claim that within the cave there is a hunger that he cannot satisfy, a debt that he cannot pay. He had not defeated the Beast, like would be expected from such a sacrifice. And therefore nothing changes for the people in the Citadel; they must make their tribute again and again and again, yearly. A new tribute every year – they cannot re-create the old one like Christians do in the Eucharist. And so men and women die, every year, to sate the Beast, because of Sapphique’s failure. There is no forgiveness, and there is no joy. The people of the Citadel (and implicitly the rest of the Prison) are locked into what Christianity would consider an Old Covenant pattern – one characterized more by justice than by mercy. It is a Resurrection narrative, and it is a failed one. 

In addition, the duology approaches Christian concepts when, midway through Sapphique, an apocalyptic narrative starts to emerge. By the beginning of Chapter 11 it starts becoming clear that Incarceron wants get Outside, and that something terrible will happen if it ever manages this. Added to this is Incarceron’s report of Sapphique’s promised return at the end of _Incarceron_ , and later, the peasant Tom’s claim that Sapphique promised to return to the Realm as well. There is clearly an end of some sort coming. 

But wait! Isn’t there an apocalypse in the Norse worldview as well? And indeed there is, but there are some distinctions that ultimately suggest the Prophecy of the World’s End is more of a Revelation tale in Ragnarok’s trappings than the other way around. Despite how the mythology books usually render it, the Ragnarok prophecy is highly fragmented and vague enough that the grammar occasionally cannot keep up, and, in the Snorri version, is relayed much like a game of telephone, from völva to Odin and eventually all the way to Snorri. There are many who interpret the odd tenses as indications that Ragnarok has already happened, or is a cyclic event. On the other hand, Revelation, much as it may read like a fever dream, is a fever dream written by someone with an absolutely serious approach and as few degrees of separation as are possible. Two fragments of Sapphique’s Prophecy of the World’s End are presented in the books, and are given below. 

> A great Fimbulwinter will close down on the world.  
>  Darkness and cold will spread from Wing to Wing. There will come one called the Unsapient, from far away, from Outside.  
>  He will plot and scheme with Incarceron.  
>  They will make the Winged Man

> The dove will rise above destruction  
>  With a white rose in her beak.  
>  Over storm  
>  Over tempest.  
>  Over time and the ages.  
>  And the petals will fall to the ground like snow.

Oddly poetic as this prophecy is, it at least has a defined time frame (the future) and clearly defined events, and it lacks a framing story like the Völuspá. Therefore, it seems to resemble Revelation more than it does Ragnarok. 

Another factor indicating that the return of Sapphique is meant to evoke a Christian apocalypse is the fact that it is awaited. Incarceron wants him to return. The people of the Prison want him to return. The Steel Wolves want him to return, and so do the peasants of the Realm. Compare this to the Christian ideal of the Second Coming of Christ, which is also hopefully awaited across most of Christendom. At its extremes, this eagerness shades into end-of-the-world theology, but even at its more moderate incarnations we sing _Come, Lord Jesus, com_ e. In contrast, the Norse, though they seem to have accepted it stoically, were not necessarily keen for the coming of Ragnarok, reportedly taking actions to stave it off such as filing rather than clipping their nails. The Sapphique-cult centers its faith around a messianic figure, and, when you get right down to it, every messiah is Christ. 

#### Apotheosis

Apotheosis is the process of raising a human to a godly status. It has two, rather closely adjacent meanings: the first, from a myth-interpretation standpoint, refers to the theory that an entity currently worshipped as a deity was originally a human to whom divine attributes were ascribed over the years as their tales were told, until they became no longer a human-figure but a god-figure. It is closely wedded to the process of euhemerism, which refers to the presenting of a theory that a deity or a myth really had a secular origin. In a nutshell, apotheosis is the process by which a human becomes worshipped as a deity; euhemerism is the revelation that said deity was originally human. 

From a perspective inside a certain theology, the view is a little different, and there apotheosis refers to the belief that an actual human was deified and ascended to the ranks of that theology’s deities. An example is the Heracles myth, which states that, when Heracles was dying, Zeus took him up to be on Olympus among the gods. The duology is more concerned with the second type of apotheosis, although shades of the first appear. The climax of _Sapphique_ is an example of an apotheosis. Jared (a human) puts on the artifact called Sapphique’s Glove, and is then transformed into the Sapphique identity (something more-than-human, the central figure of the Sapphique-cult). It is implied that such a process occurred to the original, lost-in-the-mists-of-history Sapphique as well. After all, there is an entire myth explaining how he won the Glove from a dragon, and, upon putting it on, “dreamed its dreams.” In this way, the Glove can be looked at as a kind of apotheosis device. Its entire purpose is to raise a human to the divine status imparted by the Sapphique identity. 

(Of course, this raises the question as to whether the Sapphique identity can truly considered divine, if neither man nor Incarceron are divine in themselves; is divinity an emergent property at the Sapphique-identity level? However, such a discussion is beyond the scope of this essay, and for the purposes of this discussion, I think we can say that Sapphique is the divine figure in the Sapphique-cult.) 

But is it good? That is a significant question. Rarely in life or in myth is any action or event entirely good and without consequences, and apotheosis is a heavy trade. The one who is transformed into a deity is transformed; they will lose as much of their humanity as they will gain divinity. The concept is illustrated pithily in C.S. Lewis _Till We Have Faces_ by main character Orual, who claims “to be eaten and to be married to the god might not be so different.” No ecstasy comes without price, and in this case the price for divinity – a closeness to it, or a becoming of it – is being divine. The duology addresses this, or at least brings up the question for discussion. After Jared’s transformation, both Claudia and Attia express their worry that he is not strong, that the union will destroy him and Incarceron will “go wrong” as it did in the beginning. On the other hand, John Arlex seems confident it will not. 

#### Love (Which Moves the Sun and the Other Stars)

The above epigraph for _Sapphique_ is taken from Dante’s _Paradisio_ , presented at the beginning of the book implicitly as an answer to the guiding question that appears throughout: What is the key that unlocks the heart? In theory, the answer is love, and in theory, a theme of _Sapphique_ is the loves shared between the characters, from fiancés Finn and Claudia down to Incarceron, who has forgotten even the word. 

(Whether the Prison _can_ , in fact, feel love is a thorny problem, not made any easier by the fact that we’ve barely managed to define, much less characterize, love in living breathing real-life people. There’s a consensus that oxytocin has something to do with it, which would suggest its love is false; yet such data could easily be twisted to implicitly falsify love in the living as well. Again, beyond the scope of this essay, and for narrative purposes it seems most sensible to assume all characters, Incarceron included, have the capability to both give and receive love.) 

There are many different connotations wrapped up in the word _love_ , and a useful paradigm to sort them out is C.S. Lewis’ _The Four Loves_ , which proposes that love comes in four different types: storge, eros, philia, and agape. Storge is familial love, of the kind which occurs between relatives and very close friends. Eros is romantic love, of the kind between boyfriend and girlfriend. Philia is friendship or brotherly love, of the kind between friends and among members of organizations or groups. And agape is selfless, compassionate, or altruistic love. 

But which of the four is Catherine focussing on, building her story around? Even without looking at the text, the answer can be surmised from the epigraph’s context. The quote does not appear alone in _Paradisio_ : its full context is “[...] my desire and will were moved already— like a wheel revolving uniformly—by the Love that moves the sun and the other stars.” This phrase seems to have been constructed by applying the transitive property and joining two separate Christian beliefs: that God is love, and that God controls the movements of the heavens. In this way, a sort of kenning for God is created: “that love which moves the sun and the other stars.” And in Christian theology the love of God is considered to be of the agape form. Agape is also the only of the four loves not to depend upon its receiver. One cannot successfully storge-love a non-family-member, eros-love a non-beau, or philia-love a non-friend. That is not how these loves are meant to be shared, and they are not satisfying in this context – heck, if the plethora of unrequited-love-themed media is any indication, they can be downright painful! But agape, being selfless, does not require that relationship, existing not because the loved is the lover’s family/beau/friend, but because the loved _is_.

Catherine Fisher takes it upon herself to illustrate at least three of these loves, in one form or another, in the books. (Eros is left, as is typical in Catherine’s books, up to the interpretation of the reader.) For storge, she selects Claudia and John Arlex, who share a love “part hate and part admiration and part fear”, yet the love is there, though imperfect. For philia, she selects Finn and Keiro, joined by blood oath and group membership in the Comiatus. And for agape, there is _Sapphique_ ’s climax, and Jared and Incarceron. A lot of books have a battle for a climax, but _Sapphique_ has a conversation, in which Jared and Incarceron discuss the end of the world, the original Sapphique’s promise, and emotions, all, ultimately, leading to the decision whether Jared should wear the Glove or not and risk such a transformation. 

Jared and Incarceron have no prior relationship. Incarceron knows nothing of him, and all Jared knows is that Incarceron is the Prison’s AI, somehow gone wrong. In addition, Incarceron has just cut the power to the Realm – almost literally yanked the world out from under Jared’s feet. Yet Jared still decides that Incarceron deserves empathy, it is not the villain, it is worth saving, because... because. That’s what makes it agape. And Incarceron must set aside its cruelty for at least a moment and accept it, for although agape can be given without acceptance there can be no transformation, no redemption, without acceptance. 

Interestingly, the Incarceron/Sapphique relationship, the relationship between culture villain and culture hero, could theoretically be characterized as all three different loves, for Incarceron says to Jared, assuming him to be Sapphique, “You were my brother and my son,” thereby brushing up against philia and storge in addition to the agape that seems inherent to the Sapphique identity. Though the Sapphique-cult lacks a Resurrection narrative, they are not that badly off, for they still have a love that redeems. 

#### Come Ye Faithful

This is all very well and good, but all we have done so far is to characterize the tenets of the Sapphique-cult. What about the people who follow it? Do they hold to these tenets? What is their relationship to their faith? 

It turns out there are many, depending on the person. Throughout the duology, we meet a large number of characters, all of whom have different opinions. They range from Gildas’s zealotry to Finn’s wavering skepticism to Attia’s vague cultural sense of belief, from Jared’s careful agnosticism to Rix’s belief that Sapphique not only exists but is in fact him. In a way, this lends legitimacy to the created religion, because regular, real religions are always contentious things, accepted enough but never fully. 

The scene in Blaize’s tower – the scene that culminates in Jared’s impactful line “But who is Sapphique?” – becomes very interesting under the eye of personal ideologies. The comparison of Jared and Gildas’ perspectives is indicative of a massive schism in the ranks of the Sapienti, likely dating back to very soon after the entry of Martor and his seventy followers to Incarceron. Inside the Prison, the Sapienti have evolved into a more shamanic role, and seem to primarily represent an ideology. Outside, the Sapienti have evolved into an order of scholars, focussed on science, anthropology, and philosophy. Such may be considered an example of adaptive radiation of an _ideology_ into two separate niches, under different selective pressures; Outside, the people do not feel that need for spiritual/ideological guidance – perhaps they have Protocol to do that, or perhaps it is a backlash against the passions of the Years of Rage – while they do have the desire for the guiding light of science, and so Outside’s Sapienti adapted to fill that niche. Inside, things are different. Perhaps unsurprisingly, in light of the recent mass influx into the Prison and the blatant unfairness of consignment to that hellhole, the people want ideological answers and not the cold of hypotheses and theses and data. And thus they build the Sapphique-cult, and set the Sapienti up as its high priests, and Inside’s Sapienti adapted to fill that niche. 

Outside, rather, it is the Steel Wolves who have stepped into the gap that only religion can fill. The Steel Wolves bear a striking resemblance to the Zealots, a fringe Jewish sect around the time of Christ focussed on instigating a Jewish theocracy and repelling the tyranny of the Roman occupation – and look, there is the eagle again, symbol of the Roman empire just as it is of the Havaarna dynasty. Unlike the Roman empire, however, the Havaarna dynasty – or at least its dark and controlling history – does get toppled over the course of the duology. When Incarceron sucks all of the power out of the Realm, rendering everything in its decayed state, the power of Queen Sia and of the throne is broken. 

And Incarceron does this in order to create its Sapphique body, rending power from the Ethon-figure to feed what is at least a semblance of the Prometheus-figure. And with Jared taking the Glove and entering into the dreams of the Prison, it truly becomes the Sapphique identity, the central figure of the Sapphique-cult rather than the Prison’s superficial imitation. If the Beast narrative is Christ failed, then Jared’s apotheosis is Prometheus triumphant, Prometheus with broken chains and ages of wisdom to hand humanity; and the dual tormentors, the dual Ethons of the Court and of Incarceron are subordinated before him. Beyond that, though, Catherine Fisher leaves it open: the future developments of the Sapphique-cult’s theology, whether that will change now that their Second Coming has come, and whether Jared will ultimately be married to or devoured by the god that he has become. 


End file.
